Mary Kay Samko, now in her 19th year as the Aquatics
Director and Head Men’s and Women’s Swim Coach at
Bentley University, has developed the Bentley swim program into one
of the most competitive in the Northeast-10 Conference.

All of the school records have been bettered numerous times
since she inherited a two-year-old program in 1996. Samko led
Bentley to six straight NEISDA women’s championships
from 2002-07, and also the 2010 and 2012
championships, and the men’s team has captured the
NEISDA title seven times from 2001-12 before leaving the
organization. In 2010, the men's team captured the
Northeast-10 Conference championship for the first time in the
program's history. The 2010-11 year saw Anne Kaduboski and Jessida
Hodsdon become the first swimming All-Americas in the program's
history.

During Samko’s first 18 years at Bentley,
she’s led the women’s team to a 188-58 record,
including a remarkable 107-14 from 1999-2008, and the men’s
team to a 137-64 record. The Falcons have finished in the
top four of each of the first nine Northeast-10 Conference
championships. The 2012-13 season saw her top 300 victories as
Bentley's head coach and 400 overall as a head coach.

Samko has received the Charles Silvia Award as the NEISDA
Men’s Swim Coach of the Year three times (2001, 2003,
2006), has been the NEISDA Women’s Swim Coach of the
Year four times (2002, 2003, 2011, 2012) and was the 2010
Northeast-10 Men's Swimming Coach of the Year.

Samko arrived at Bentley with 20 years of coaching experience,
including 14 as a head coach at three different schools, including
the University of The South in Sewanee, Tenn. from 1991-94 where
she also served as pool
director.

Samko was also the women’s swim coach at Southern
Connecticut State from 1982-87 and at Tufts from 1976-82. Her
tenure at Southern saw her take on a team on the verge of
extinction to one that was undefeated in her final year and
produced a pair of NCAA Division II
qualifiers.

Her six years at Tufts were highlighted by eight Division III
All-Americas, numerous New England championships and a sixth-place
finish in the 1982 NCAA Division III
Championships

Samko, a Short Hills, N.J. native, is a 1976 graduate of Boston
College where she was a two-time swim MVP. She became the first
woman inducted into the BC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1982, and was
the 1987 New England Coach of the
Year.

Samko, who serves on the NCAA Men's and Women's Swimming
Committee, now resides in Arlington with her husband, Bill, the
offensive line coach at Holy Cross. They have four children,
including Michael, a freshman at Bentley.